FEATURE PARKING CONSULTANCY
Lowe, who has now taken over RTA Associates, used to be group engineer traffi c management at Salford Council. His career path changed after he called in a consultant to help Salford change to being one of the fi rst authorities outside London to adopt CPE. He ended up quitting the council to work for the man he’d hired. T at was 10 years ago and Lowe has been busy
ever since, helping other local authorities move towards CPE – he estimates there are still around 50 where the police still have responsibility for on-street parking. Meanwhile, RTA also advises councils who long ago went down the CPE route and are now re-tendering contracts. ‘It shouldn’t be a surprise that some councils are
seeking to reduce costs by re-tendering existing contracts and some may consider increasing parking charges too when they are faced with signifi cant cut backs in other budgets – it’s the second biggest revenue stream after council tax,’ Lowe says. But he warns of the need for self-restraint. ‘You can’t just put up parking charges – people will only visit once rather than three times, which gives an overall revenue reduction.’
Word of mouth T e biggest change Unity Recruitment director Jessica Gaspar has noticed is growing numbers of councils willing to use agency staff . Gaspar, a parking recruitment consultant for six years, believes this is largely down to ‘word of mouth’ following Unity’s successful relationship with a London borough that took 30 agency CEOs on trial. ‘Since then it’s been like a domino eff ect in London and the Home Counties,’ she says. Often, using agency staff results in increased
revenue collection: they’re on short contracts – some just for a fortnight to cover for council staff
Often using agency staff results in increased revenue collection: they’re on short contracts and need to prove their worth
on training – and need to prove their worth even though their employers aren’t allowed to set targets. But it isn’t just about slapping tickets on
windscreens. ‘We only supply people with previous experience,’ says Gaspar. ‘T ey don’t want to give out tickets that have to be cancelled.’ Consultants are also involved in advising off -
street car park operators, Alpha among them. ‘T ey’re beginning to realise more and more they have a major asset and want to maximise it,’ says Winder. ‘But also the public expects car parks to be of a good standard.’
26 DECEMBER 2010
Learning from experience… consultants can bring knowledge gained on other projects
Alpha’s current projects include one at Smithfi eld,
where it’s looking at traffi c fl ow, signage and improved marking. In general, Winder believes operators have been slow to consider variable pricing that refl ects demand. ‘For instance, it might be better having a lower rate on a Monday, or, for some car parks, in the holiday season. It’s much better to have an asset used than not used.’ What of the future? Consultant Peter Guest,
a maths graduate whose career in transport and parking began when employed by the former Greater London Council (GLC), thinks the industry should look abroad, where the bulk of his work now takes him. He fi nds the UK local authority market for a sole trader consultant ‘
bureaucratic...not terribly attractive.’ T e lure of projects in such place as Abu Dhabi and Mostar, Croatia, has been the chance ‘to start with a blank piece of paper’. As an advisor on car park design, Guest thinks
the UK, even after decades of building, can get things wrong. ‘Architects are still designing for the average car, not vehicles such as 4x4s, and the classic mistake they make is the size of the bays and width of the ramps,’ he says. Here, Guest works as a consultant for Empark, the
Spanish company that opened a UK subsidiary three years ago – ‘an operator that doesn’t yet have a full understanding of the UK market’ but one that ‘can bring knowledge and experience to the UK’. Guest and Lowe agree that part of the future for
parking is increased use of technology, especially the trend towards cashless payment for parking. ‘In Zagreb,’ said Guest, ‘ 85 per cent of payment is by mobile phone. ‘We all have something to learn from each other.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andrew Mourant is a freelance journalist. He can be contacted via email:
ajmourant@aol.com
www.britishparking.co.uk
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